On the road again

Every morning after Briefing we have a team meeting to discuss the task and weather. At the beginning of today's meeting Fernando put his finger on the map on the task sheet and said, "I'll be landing here today." He based his prediction on the forecast time of arrival of an intense ridge of cold high pressure air from the Pacific.

The Task Setter gave the same task to both classes, a 2 hour AAT, and we had an atypically early launch into a southwest wind. The obvious strategy was to get out of town while the getting was good, and that is exactly what everyone did. The Standard Class, who went first, escaped before the weather changed. The 15 Meter start gate opened just as the mini-frontal passage occurred, and some of the gliders were able to climb above cloudbase before the start. Others weren't so lucky. On the ground, the wind picked up, and the temperature took a dive.

Robin and Juan were overrun by the stable air and were trapped at home. Phil and Fernando met the same fate on course and came to earth just after making the first turn. Phil landed first. His crew had some trouble hooking up the trailer. Something didn't seem right at first, but they eventually got it attached to the car, and they departed.

Meanwhile, Fernando hung on just long enough to reach his predicted landing spot.

Al and Ryszard, who had a slight head start on the new weather, flew 90 degrees to their courseline in order to get even farther away from it. This tactic worked, and they stayed in the air the longest of all.  They probably got minimum distance.

There were 21 outlandings today, so the scorer doesn't have much to work with. We won't know if the day will be valid in either class until much later.

All but one of our pilots are on the road home now. We promised to keep the light on for Phil, who has stopped along the way to get his trailer tongue welded back together. Maybe that will make it easier to hook up to the car next time.